Page 210 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

Risk Managers 191
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Risks, risk managers and crisis
communication

Image, opinion and reputation

Before assessing risks, it is imperative to be fully aware of the various
parts of the company’s brand image, and the factors tolerated – or not
– by the publics affected by the brand, bearing in mind that brand
awareness is not an exact science.
Brand image consists of diverse elements such as financial results,
performance, ethics, governance, social policies, etc. None of these is
stable. They can all quickly fluctuate, depending on the group (share-
holders, consumers, associations, public opinion, or employees)
reacting to the image, as there are many differences of perception
among these groups.
Beyond assessing its image, a company also needs to become aware
of its reputation, that is to say, the sum of all the different ways its
image is perceived. Risks can be identified when evaluating all these
elements. There are three types of risk:

1. Those directly related to the company’s business: social policy,
governance, the quality of products made or of services rendered,
environmental policies, etc.
2. Those related to company actions that go against company core
values. The pharmaceutical industry, for one, vaunts noble values
that serve humanity and finds itself in the dock for abandoning
activities that aren’t profitable or not mentioning the side-effects of
certain products.
3. Those related to company actions that go against the values of the
times. Take for example, a subject that is worldwide in scope, that
of obesity. The food and agriculture industry is quite vulnerable to
a risk related to this issue.

It is important that a company draws up a list of vulnerability points.
Those in charge of corporate communication and risk managers will
need to permanently update this list. It goes without saying that the
list will have to be adapted to each country where the company oper-
ates, since sensitivity and values can vary significantly from one
country to another.
When recently asked how to best manage a crisis, a client of Beau
Fixe replied, ‘You need a good communication agency and a good
insurance company!’ The cost of crises has skyrocketed since the
1980s, not only because they have multiplied, but also because the